Spring 2014 Class Descriptions

Tax I provides students with an understanding of the basic principles of federal income tax, including gross income, deductions, tax accounting, capital transactions, and income shifting. Required for upper-class students.

3 credit(s)Concentration(s): Taxation (LLMC), Business and Corporate Law (LLMC), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Business and Corporate Law (JD), Taxation (MSLS), Business and Corporate Law (MSLS), LLM in Taxation (LLMT)Prerequisite(s): Tax I

The course involves a study of the basic concepts of federal income taxation of C corporations and their shareholders, including organization of corporations; cash and stock dividends; redemptions of stock; partial and complete liquidations; sales of corporate businesses and reorganizations. Taxation of corporations is compared with taxation of partnerships, limited liability companies and S corporations. The emphasis is on careful analysis of Code provisions, Treasury Regulations, other administrative materials and important judicial decisions in relation to problems that are frequently assigned in advance of class discussion.

Note: This is a required course for the Business and Corporate Law Concentration (JD) and the LLM in Taxation.

This course provides a comprehensive review of prelitigation IRS administrative procedures, practical analysis in the selection of a choice of forum to litigate a federal tax dispute, pre-trial practice and case analysis, trial techniques and strategies when litigating a federal tax dispute before the U.S. Tax Court, and a review of refund litigation. Prerequisite: Tax I. This is an advanced tax course with priority enrollment for LLM in Taxation students.

This course will offer an introduction to the principal policy considerations raised when creating a tax system. Topics will include the merits of different tax systems (such as income and consumption taxes), questions of tax administration and legal complexity, the efficiency implications of taxation, and distributional implications. It will consider how well current legislation addresses these various issues and consider whether there are ways that they might be better addressed. The class will be conducted as a seminar and will likely include guest experts who will join us in discussions of particular topics. Tax I is a prerequisite for this course; other tax courses, especially Tax II, would be useful, but are not required.

This course involves an intensive examination of federal tax research techniques, including locating and evaluating legislative history, administrative authorities,and judicial decisions with attention to comparative weights and relationships among various authorities. Students are required to conduct various research and validation tasks, and to prepare complex tax documents, such as, ruling requests, protests, opinion letters, memoranda of law, and Tax Court petitions. Enrollment is limited to 12 students (no JDs).

Intellectual Property development and exploitation are very significant for many businesses. This requires attention to IP legal protection and dispute resolution, but also to IP taxation in both the US and abroad. This course addresses key tax challenges and opportunities – in both the US and selected other countries – affecting IP development and exploitation.
The course first focuses on basic tax rules such as treatment of income and expenses as ordinary or capital, source of income, timing of income recognition, and the effects of tax treaties on taxation of cross-border IP transactions. The course then applies such rules to selected business arrangements involving IP such as sales, licenses and cost sharing arrangements, financing techniques such as securitization, and business combinations such as mergers and joint ventures. The aim is to impart solutions for developing and exploiting IP in light of US and other tax rules.
At the beginning of the course, students are assigned to teams. Each team is provided with a brief case study proposing one or more of the IP business arrangements covered in the course. In the final sessions of the course, each team makes a presentation and provides a paper covering key tax challenges and opportunities presented by its case study.
One or more previous courses in taxation and/or intellectual property law are recommended but not required.

3 credit(s)Requirement(s): SkillsConcentration(s): Intellectual Property Law (LLMG), Intellectual Property (LLMC), Business and Corporate Law (LLMC), LLM in Business and Corporate Law (LLMB), Intellectual Property (JD), Business and Corporate Law (JD)

This course places students at local law firms to provide legal assistance to local technology startups in the areas of intellectual property prosecution and licensing, corporate formation and transactions, contracts, employment, and related areas. Students will be supervised by attorneys at local law firms as well as the professor. The course will begin with 2-3 weeks of class sessions covering the core types of transactions encountered in technology startups. There are no scheduled classes during the remainder of the semester; instead, students will work with the companies and supervising lawyers each week, and meet one-on-one with the professor on a regular basis. An application process will be used to select students for the course.

The distribution of goods and the provision of services in the global economy – and hence the production of revenue – frequently involves technology transfer. A grasp of the law of technology transfers, and the application of that law into practice are essential tools of a practicing business lawyer. This course will focus on the law and practice of development and exploitation of proprietary technology as well as the commercialization of that technology through the manufacture and distribution of products and provision of services. We will review the intellectual property law underpinnings of a technology transfer practice, including copyrights, patents, trade secrets and know-how, and trademarks, and then focus on how technology transfer agreements differ depending on the underlying intellectual property rights. We will review the basic building blocks of intellectual property agreements, and then together write software license agreements, patent license agreements, independent contractor agreements and terms and conditions of sale. Drafting skills will be developed using both lecture and practical training methods (hypothetical business scenarios coupled with drafting exercises based on those scenarios). This course will be practical in its orientation, with an emphasis on drafting documents customarily encountered by lawyers practicing in the technology transfer space.

The course will discuss major themes in family law: parental rights, children’s rights, community property, breach of fiduciary duty, child support, spousal support, international family law problems, and related issues. While we will use a case book, there will be an emphasis on reading and discussion of seminal cases in California and the US Supreme Court. At the end of the course, students will have a firm grasp on the legal underpinnings of the family law in statutes and in the courts. They will also gain an understanding of the real life issues confronting families who require the assistance of courts and lawyers to resolve family conflict. Each student will be required to write a research paper of 20 pages in length. Successful completion of this course satisfies the written-work requirement.

Note: This is a required course for the Children Rights Concentration (JD).

This two-unit seminar focuses on copyright, trademark, and patent law, dealing with some of their theoretical and policy foundations. We’ll be reading seminal cases in this area, as well as law review and other articles. No prior IP classes are required, although it would be helpful to have taken the Introduction to IP, another IP class, or to have work experience in this area. Students are expected to write a paper for the class. Successful completion of the paper satisfies the law school’s writing requirement.

This course provides an overview of trademark and unfair competition law. We will discuss the purpose of these laws, the requirements for trademark protection, and the scope and enforcement of trademark rights. Specifically, we will cover the concepts of distinctiveness, functionality, and use of a trademark; the procedural and substantive aspects of trademark registration; geographic limits on trademark rights; trademark infringement, dilution, cybersquatting, counterfeiting, false advertising, false endorsement, and the right of publicity; and defenses and remedies in trademark actions. The grade will be based on a final examination.

3 credit(s)Concentration(s): International Law (MSLS), LLM in International Law (LLMI), International Law (LLMC), International Law (JD)

“Transitional Justice” is an emerging field of policy, practice, and study that focuses on the moral, legal, and political dilemmas encountered as individuals, communities, and nations attempt to grapple with historical legacies of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and other large-scale human rights violations. In such circumstances: Who must be punished and who may be pardoned? Do vigorous efforts to promote legal accountability jeopardize the emerging and fragile peace? What is the proper role and responsibility of the so-called international community? In this class, we will examine the complementarity and conflict between the often overlapping demands that nations face in the wake of large-scale human rights abuses, including retribution, reconciliation, restitution, memory, and other forms of accountability. This will include study of the traditional range of transitional justice tools and interventions that have evolved, including international tribunals from Nuremburg to the ICC, truth commissions, reparations programs, public memorials, vetting and lustration initiatives, and broader institutional reform. Along the way, we will probe the blind spots, assumptions, and limitations of varying transitional justice mechanisms, together with the transitional justice project in general. Course grades will be determined on the basis of class participation, short reaction papers, a group oral presentation, and a final research paper. Please be advised that this course does not fulfill the law school’s written work requirement

This is an upper class course focused on the skills of case analysis and oral presentation of those cases to judges and juries on civil or criminal trials. The course also includes developing skills used in the discovery phase of civil cases, especially depositions. The course is specifically designed to expand the skills introduced to the student in Legal Research & Writing. The course methodology combines lectures, demonstrations and individual student performances in small groups with extensive critique and feedback by small group instructors who are experienced practitioners. The course culminates in a mock trial. The course is graded on a 4-tier Pass/Fail basis. The previous name of this course was Lawyering Skills II/Oral Advocacy.

Note: Students may only elect this course or Practicum--Civil to count toward the Civil Litigation Concentration (JD).Additional Information:Civil Litigation Concentration

This survey course provides an introduction to non-tax aspects of estate planning and the law of gratuitous transfers, including inter vivos gifts, intestate succession, wills, will substitutes, trusts, fiduciary administration, and future interests.

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